India's Cheteshwar Pujara and KL Rahul are two of the country's best batters of the current generation. Both have proven to be pillars of Indian batting in international cricket. While one has been the solid at No. 3 for India in Tests, the other has been a revelation in all three formats. Both batters brag of a formidable career and records, but having said that, there have been occasions when their teammates, with far lesser batting credentials, have performed better than them. One such incident took place in 2019 during India's tour of West Indies in the Test series. (India vs England 1st ODI Live Score)
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In the second match of the series, India, after being put into bat, were reduced to 46/2 with Rahul and Pujara falling cheaply, but a half-century from Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli steadied the innings. Hanuma Vihari too had scored a century, but while all these knocks were expected, one that wasn't was Ishant Sharma slamming his maiden Test fifty. Ishant 57 off just 80 balls with the help of seven fours en route to registering his highest-ever Test score. As everyone celebrated Ishant's fifty from the dressing room, the India pacer revealed the lighter incidents that took place in the change room between Pujara, Rahul and even the then-captain Virat Kohli.
"Virat is one of those who expresses himself a lot on the field. Like when I too scored a half-century, he couldn’t believe it. So, these things keep happening in our team. When I was batting, Pujara and KL Rahul said, 'If he scores a 100, we might as well jump off a building in Jamaica,' because they had gotten out quickly. So, these things are always fun to be around. And Virat, like I said, is way too expressive," Ishant told sports presenter Jatin Sapru on his YouTube show 'The Warm-Up Show'.
{{/usCountry}}"Virat is one of those who expresses himself a lot on the field. Like when I too scored a half-century, he couldn’t believe it. So, these things keep happening in our team. When I was batting, Pujara and KL Rahul said, 'If he scores a 100, we might as well jump off a building in Jamaica,' because they had gotten out quickly. So, these things are always fun to be around. And Virat, like I said, is way too expressive," Ishant told sports presenter Jatin Sapru on his YouTube show 'The Warm-Up Show'.
{{/usCountry}}Ishant has scored 785 runs for India in 105 Tests. Besides the 57 against the West Indies, Ishant has also produced scores of 31 against Sri Lanka and West Indies and helped wag India's tail on several occasions. He has formed fruitful lower-order partnerships, often bailing his team out of trouble when all odds were against them.